Online Application

This time last year, I hadn’t really heard of product management or APM programs. It was when I was doing a business internship at Google last summer and I was exploring technical positions that I came across it. I then spoke to a few APMs and APM interns during my internship, and hearing more about the role solidified my interest, so I decided to internally apply for the APM internship for the following year.

How to respond for success

Because I was so new to product, I didn't have any specific product experience to put on my CV. However, I managed to adapt my current CV to showcase the skills they are looking for through my other experiences. I have written in more detail about how I did this in my other article.

From what I have read online, you can optimise your chances of being called to interview by getting a referral from a Googler and/or applying on the exact day applications open. Try to ensure you’re ready before the application opening date.

Expect a 2 month wait before advancing to the next stage.

Virtual Interview

Fast forward from summer to November — I received an email from the recruiter inviting me to interview for the role! The first stage was a 45-minute interview with a current Google PM and would test my Product, Strategy, Analytical, and/or Technical skills. I found this daunting, as it seemed any of these areas could come up, and I would need to be sufficiently prepared for all of them so that I was able to answer any question that came my way. 

Example

The actual interview was not as daunting as I thought it would be, the interviewer was very friendly and made me feel at ease. I got asked a warm-up question to start and then we focussed on a product improvement question for the remaining time, as well as some follow-up questions around success metrics.

How to respond for success

Luckily, there were ample resources, videos, books, and frameworks that equipped me to answer these questions. My main resources for preparation were:

• Cracking the Coding Interview: This is very helpful for reviewing basic data structures and algorithms, as well as some system design elements and concepts.
• Cracking the PM Interview: Focuses specifically on how to land Product Management roles within tech companies, provides a lot of good frameworks and example questions and answers.

• Decode and Conquer: A great and easy-to-read book that gives amazing examples as well as provides useful frameworks.
• The Design of Everyday Things: A great insight into the principles of good design.
• Exponent YouTube channel: A fantastic channel that conducts mock interviews with APMs, PMs and senior PMs from a range of large tech companies — very useful in understanding the best way to communicate your ideas in interviews.
• Lewis C. Lin’s Interview Community: Probably the best resource of all, this is a slack community of people looking to mock for product roles. It was using this that I was able to mock and connect with other people interviewing for PM/APM/APM internship roles. I did ~20 mock interviews in total during my preparations.

I would recommend starting to read through resources before starting mock interviews. It is helpful to know some frameworks and expectations of answers beforehand.

Expect a 2 week wait before advancing to the next stage.

1-1 Interview

In this stage I needed to complete a written assignment and complete three 45-minute interviews.

Example

Written Assignment: There is not really much you can do to prepare for this segment of the process. You receive a brief and have 3 days to complete the assignment. All expectations and details are shared with you as part of the brief. I have heard some stories of people not focussing enough time on this part of the process as interview preparation — so ensure you balance out your time accordingly to produce your best work!

Three 45-minute interviews: These were all fairly similar in format to the first round interview, but the interviews delved a bit deeper into testing your Product, Analytical and Technical skills. The preparation I would recommend for this step is to just continue doing mock interviews, ensuring you also include practice of estimation, analytical and technical questions.

Technical interview

During this step, you are sure to be having a technical interview as part of your on-site. From speaking with others, this is the interview a lot of

people are most nervous about. I was also very nervous but felt slightly more comforted by the fact I had been preparing for coding interviews in the months beforehand. 

How to respond for success

So my advice for this interview would be to ensure you know basic data structures and algorithms - and also review system design fundamentals and know the main concepts behind well-known products such as Google Search and Twitter.

I used this System Design course for beginners on YouTube, which I thought was very easy to understand and covered all of the essentials. I have also wrote an article dedicated to how I approached all my preparation for the technical interview.

Expect a 3-4 week wait before advancing to the next stage.

Final Interview

This final stage is where a hiring committee analyses your performance during the application and makes a final decision. Although there is now no more preparation to be done at this stage, it is by far one of the hardest parts. I had done my on-site around mid-December, so I was waiting until the new year for the final outcome. 

A word of advice from someone who was badgering their recruiter for updates — the recruiter genuinely is on your side, and will of course get back to you with updates as soon as they become available!